Narrator: James W. Bishop (JB)
Also present: Bernadine Bishop (BB)
Interviewer: Mary Swier Bolhuis (MB)
MB: Today is August 28, 2001. This is for Jim Bishop. He was born on March 28, 1920. He was 20 years old when he entered the 3-Cs on April 8, 1940. He served in camp number 1723 at Yellowstone. Can you describe something about your camp?
JB: Yes, we were about half way through the Park. Let’s see, I guess were about thirty miles or forty miles from –what do you call that?
MB: Old Faithful?
JB: No, we were at Old Faithful.
MB: What is your family’s background? Were you a native to America or were you recent immigrants?
JB: I guess I was a native to America.
MB: How many brothers and sisters did you have?
JB: I had six sisters and two brothers. Since we were born, two brothers passed away along the line and I had three sisters that passed away.
MB: What was your level of education?
JB: Eighth grade.
MB: How did you hear about the 3-Cs?
JB: I saw it in the paper.
MB: Were you recruited?
JB: No.
MB: Did you have any say in where you would go?
JB: No.
MB: How were you assigned to camps?
JB: I don’t know. They put us on a troop train there in Little Rock and we went west. We had one train and it was going to Cody, Wyoming. And another one –I don’t know where it was going.
MB: Where did you hear that you would be going to Yellowstone Park?
JB: After I’d been in the CCCs about a month.
MB: Do you know how you felt about having to go there?
JB: Oh, I loved it.
MB: When you joined the 3-Cs, where were first you stationed?
JB: Well, we went to Little Rock. Then we got outfitted, a couple bags full of work clothes and stuff. And away we went. Went to [unintellible].
MB: Do you have any memories of the day or night you arrived in Yellowstone?
JB: Oh, yeah.
MB: What were your feelings? What were your first impressions?
JB: I thought it was kind of nice.
MB: Was your camp a tent camp or did you live in barracks?
JB: The first camp that we went into in the Yellowstone Park was a pyramidal tent camp and it had enough room for six bunks or, to make it a little better, you could have five in there.
MB: How many roommates did you have?
JB: Well, if you had six in a camp, you’d have five roommates. If you had five in a camp, you’d have four roommates.
MB: Can you recall the layout of the camp?
JB: Not the camp.
MB: Do you know anything about the arrangement of the tents and buildings?
JB: No.
MB: Where did you eat?
JB: We had a nice, first-class mess hall down on the riverside.
MB: Where did you store your supplies?
JB: We had a storage room for that.
MB: Did you have a baseball diamond anywhere?
JB: Well, there were several of them around there that were constructed to play a little ball, softball and whatnot.
MB: Was there a garden?
JB: No.
MB: What was your official job?
JB: I was assistant team leader.
MB: What did you do while you were in Yellowstone? Where did you work?
JB: Well, we worked around the Old Faithful geyser area. We had one crew that built a camp. It was built with portable barracks.
MB: Did you do anything that specifically added to the Park, like new trails, or bridges, or roads.
JB: I don’t know. In my group, we just worked around the camp and then we went and we fought a couple of fires.
MB: What did you like best about your work?
JB: Well, [unintelligible] that was nice. Being among all the young men, you know.
MB: What did you like least?
JB: I don’t know. Unless I’d run into somebody that was obnoxious, maybe I didn’t like them too well-didn’t have too many of them.
MB: Who were your friends?
JB: From home we took Arnold Ayle[sp?], and Cessler Haygood, and Ned Murphy, and Mary Murphy -and that’s about all I remember the names of.
MB: What were your fellow enrollees like?
JB: They were nice kids. They wanted to get a little money or something like that, you know. And we went in, and a lot of those boys they wanted out as soon as they got in, you know, because there was going to be six months at very least before they got out of there and that seemed like a long time. But, a lot of them stayed on.
MB: What did you do in your off hours? Did you go to school, or did you play sports, or did you make trips to a nearby town?
JB: No, no nearby towns around that I ever heard of. But, we’d go sit in a reading room. Or they had a pool hall and part of the time it had been taken apart and hadn’t been put back together.
MB: What did the men think about the food?
JB: They loved it.
MB: Do you remember any of the things you had to eat, there?
JB: They had just like you had at home, here, I guess.
MB: Where you there over any of the holidays?
JB: No.
MB: Do you recall any stories or incidents that involved large animals like the bear, the elk, or the moose in the Park?
JB: The bear, the old bear that got out of control there and wounded a man very bad. He was a – what do you call it – a civilian, he wasn’t a CCC boy. I heard that they had to take his arm off, I don’t know, but I know they had to take the old bear down to the incinerator and shoot her and put her in the incinerator.
MB: Do you have any funny stories, or any funny memories, that you remember, or any sad ones?
JB: It’s kind of a sad one. We had a man from a different company, he wasn’t from our company, but he was from a different company. I heard he was sixteen years old. A tree fell on him.
MB: Did you fight any fires?
JB: Yes.
MB: What was that like?
JB: Well, you’d never believe it, but you go out there and they give you a hoe and then they give you what they call a lady’s shovel –it was just like a shovel you dig in the garden with only it was about half the size—and I guess the reason why they had them small like that, was so that it would be easy to carry. You could carry more stuff when it’s small like that. I guess, I don’t know. But, that seems right. They put those tools out there – and they what they called a Pulaski tool –you ever heard of a Pulaski tool? It was just like a double tipped axe, only the one side, instead of having an axe blade on one side it had like a Maddox blade. You could dig in like for a Maddox or for an axe.
MB: What part did you play in fighting the fires? What did you have to do?
JB: Well, I directed the men.
MB: When you say direct them, direct them how?
JB: Di-rect. Well you put them out them out there and the foreman or superintendent or somebody’d come along and say “Let’s put this next trench right down through here.” And you go out there and then they’d dig all the way down to what they called down to [mineral?] soil.
MB: What challenges did you face as an enrollee? What were your worst times?
JB: Oh, I don’t think I had any bad ones, that I know of.
MB: Did you, during your time that you were in the Cs, did you get any awards or citations?
JB: No.
MB: As soon as the war started for the United States, what did you do?
JB: I was already in the Army when the war started.
MB: What resources, tools, and skills did you learn when you were in Yellowstone?
JB: I learned how to saw wood. I already knew that, I just got a little better at it.
MB: Have you ever been back to Yellowstone and the scene of your camp?
JB: Yes, but I don’t remember going back to the old camp scene. Went back to the Park.

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James W. Bishop served in Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company #1723, stationed at the Nez Perce Camp (YNP-5) in Yellowstone National Park. His interview recalls constructing barracks, digging storm sewers, and going to dances at the Old Faithful Inn. He also mentions the buffalo corrals, elk, and bears. Memories of the Park Rangers and a story about a man who brought a clothes washing machine into camp are included. A previous interview dated July 1, 2001, was also conducted; the contents of both recordings are very similar.

Transferred from audio cassette using TEAC recorder/player. Edited for clarity using Audacity software.

Date Digitized

2017

Transcript

Narrator: James W. Bishop (JB)
Also present: Bernadine Bishop (BB)
Interviewer: Mary Swier Bolhuis (MB)
MB: Today is August 28, 2001. This is for Jim Bishop. He was born on March 28, 1920. He was 20 years old when he entered the 3-Cs on April 8, 1940. He served in camp number 1723 at Yellowstone. Can you describe something about your camp?
JB: Yes, we were about half way through the Park. Let’s see, I guess were about thirty miles or forty miles from –what do you call that?
MB: Old Faithful?
JB: No, we were at Old Faithful.
MB: What is your family’s background? Were you a native to America or were you recent immigrants?
JB: I guess I was a native to America.
MB: How many brothers and sisters did you have?
JB: I had six sisters and two brothers. Since we were born, two brothers passed away along the line and I had three sisters that passed away.
MB: What was your level of education?
JB: Eighth grade.
MB: How did you hear about the 3-Cs?
JB: I saw it in the paper.
MB: Were you recruited?
JB: No.
MB: Did you have any say in where you would go?
JB: No.
MB: How were you assigned to camps?
JB: I don’t know. They put us on a troop train there in Little Rock and we went west. We had one train and it was going to Cody, Wyoming. And another one –I don’t know where it was going.
MB: Where did you hear that you would be going to Yellowstone Park?
JB: After I’d been in the CCCs about a month.
MB: Do you know how you felt about having to go there?
JB: Oh, I loved it.
MB: When you joined the 3-Cs, where were first you stationed?
JB: Well, we went to Little Rock. Then we got outfitted, a couple bags full of work clothes and stuff. And away we went. Went to [unintellible].
MB: Do you have any memories of the day or night you arrived in Yellowstone?
JB: Oh, yeah.
MB: What were your feelings? What were your first impressions?
JB: I thought it was kind of nice.
MB: Was your camp a tent camp or did you live in barracks?
JB: The first camp that we went into in the Yellowstone Park was a pyramidal tent camp and it had enough room for six bunks or, to make it a little better, you could have five in there.
MB: How many roommates did you have?
JB: Well, if you had six in a camp, you’d have five roommates. If you had five in a camp, you’d have four roommates.
MB: Can you recall the layout of the camp?
JB: Not the camp.
MB: Do you know anything about the arrangement of the tents and buildings?
JB: No.
MB: Where did you eat?
JB: We had a nice, first-class mess hall down on the riverside.
MB: Where did you store your supplies?
JB: We had a storage room for that.
MB: Did you have a baseball diamond anywhere?
JB: Well, there were several of them around there that were constructed to play a little ball, softball and whatnot.
MB: Was there a garden?
JB: No.
MB: What was your official job?
JB: I was assistant team leader.
MB: What did you do while you were in Yellowstone? Where did you work?
JB: Well, we worked around the Old Faithful geyser area. We had one crew that built a camp. It was built with portable barracks.
MB: Did you do anything that specifically added to the Park, like new trails, or bridges, or roads.
JB: I don’t know. In my group, we just worked around the camp and then we went and we fought a couple of fires.
MB: What did you like best about your work?
JB: Well, [unintelligible] that was nice. Being among all the young men, you know.
MB: What did you like least?
JB: I don’t know. Unless I’d run into somebody that was obnoxious, maybe I didn’t like them too well-didn’t have too many of them.
MB: Who were your friends?
JB: From home we took Arnold Ayle[sp?], and Cessler Haygood, and Ned Murphy, and Mary Murphy -and that’s about all I remember the names of.
MB: What were your fellow enrollees like?
JB: They were nice kids. They wanted to get a little money or something like that, you know. And we went in, and a lot of those boys they wanted out as soon as they got in, you know, because there was going to be six months at very least before they got out of there and that seemed like a long time. But, a lot of them stayed on.
MB: What did you do in your off hours? Did you go to school, or did you play sports, or did you make trips to a nearby town?
JB: No, no nearby towns around that I ever heard of. But, we’d go sit in a reading room. Or they had a pool hall and part of the time it had been taken apart and hadn’t been put back together.
MB: What did the men think about the food?
JB: They loved it.
MB: Do you remember any of the things you had to eat, there?
JB: They had just like you had at home, here, I guess.
MB: Where you there over any of the holidays?
JB: No.
MB: Do you recall any stories or incidents that involved large animals like the bear, the elk, or the moose in the Park?
JB: The bear, the old bear that got out of control there and wounded a man very bad. He was a – what do you call it – a civilian, he wasn’t a CCC boy. I heard that they had to take his arm off, I don’t know, but I know they had to take the old bear down to the incinerator and shoot her and put her in the incinerator.
MB: Do you have any funny stories, or any funny memories, that you remember, or any sad ones?
JB: It’s kind of a sad one. We had a man from a different company, he wasn’t from our company, but he was from a different company. I heard he was sixteen years old. A tree fell on him.
MB: Did you fight any fires?
JB: Yes.
MB: What was that like?
JB: Well, you’d never believe it, but you go out there and they give you a hoe and then they give you what they call a lady’s shovel –it was just like a shovel you dig in the garden with only it was about half the size—and I guess the reason why they had them small like that, was so that it would be easy to carry. You could carry more stuff when it’s small like that. I guess, I don’t know. But, that seems right. They put those tools out there – and they what they called a Pulaski tool –you ever heard of a Pulaski tool? It was just like a double tipped axe, only the one side, instead of having an axe blade on one side it had like a Maddox blade. You could dig in like for a Maddox or for an axe.
MB: What part did you play in fighting the fires? What did you have to do?
JB: Well, I directed the men.
MB: When you say direct them, direct them how?
JB: Di-rect. Well you put them out them out there and the foreman or superintendent or somebody’d come along and say “Let’s put this next trench right down through here.” And you go out there and then they’d dig all the way down to what they called down to [mineral?] soil.
MB: What challenges did you face as an enrollee? What were your worst times?
JB: Oh, I don’t think I had any bad ones, that I know of.
MB: Did you, during your time that you were in the Cs, did you get any awards or citations?
JB: No.
MB: As soon as the war started for the United States, what did you do?
JB: I was already in the Army when the war started.
MB: What resources, tools, and skills did you learn when you were in Yellowstone?
JB: I learned how to saw wood. I already knew that, I just got a little better at it.
MB: Have you ever been back to Yellowstone and the scene of your camp?
JB: Yes, but I don’t remember going back to the old camp scene. Went back to the Park.